For the first time in the German history I can remember, investors were so desperate yesterday that they lent €3.900.000.000 to Germany, not only without asking for interest, but actually donating €250.000 so that Germany would accept their money. The interest yield was a negative 0.0122%.
Pretty insane. If someone wants to lend me some money, and I have to pay back less than I received, let me know.
(In comparison, Italy currently pays an interest rate of over 7% when lending money from investors/banks)
January 10th, 2012
January 10th, 2012 at 18:07
The same is happening to Switzerland for some time now. Their economy is suffering, because their currency is so strong that it destroys their export industry.
Luckily, we’ve got the Euro.
January 10th, 2012 at 18:11
Yes, that’s why they linked/coupled their currency to the Euro some months back, if I remember correctly.
What a weird world in which a strong currency is in many ways a bad thing for the country (e.g. export)
January 10th, 2012 at 19:21
If everything else makes me lose more money (or if that chance is high enough), I will gladly give it to you even at a negative interest rate. I think the reason is that banks don’t offer loans to other banks and cannot rely on many bonds anymore. Furthermore, giving out loans to usual customers is seen as increasingly risky, too, so they turn to the last resort of seemingly super-safe bonds. Because if they opted for not giving out loans at all, they would not be able to create money, which would hurt them even more. It is indeed a mad world.
Btw, Italy pays an interest of 6.98% for 10 year bonds and 5.62% for 3 year bonds.
January 10th, 2012 at 19:27
Franz, thanks. Why do they *need* to invest? If investment means losing money, why not keep it in the basement – because inflation rates > paying 0.01% interest?
Italy pays higher interest rates of they borrow money longterm? That sounds counter-intuitive to me as well.
January 10th, 2012 at 22:38
> Btw, Italy pays an interest of 6.98% for 10 year bonds and 5.62% for 3 year bonds.
Implying that Italy is going to make it five more years… but not ten.